Patricia Karsner v. Marcis A. Craig, M.D.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 21, 2021
Docket2019 CA 001051
StatusUnknown

This text of Patricia Karsner v. Marcis A. Craig, M.D. (Patricia Karsner v. Marcis A. Craig, M.D.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patricia Karsner v. Marcis A. Craig, M.D., (Ky. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

RENDERED: JANUARY 22, 2021; 10:00 A.M. NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals NO. 2019-CA-1051-MR

PATRICIA KARSNER APPELLANT

APPEAL FROM HARDIN CIRCUIT COURT v. HONORABLE KELLY MARK EASTON, JUDGE ACTION NO. 17-CI-01861

MARCIS A. CRAIG, M.D. AND APPELLEES HARDIN MEMORIAL

OPINION AFFIRMING

** ** ** ** **

BEFORE: COMBS, LAMBERT, AND K. THOMPSON, JUDGES.

COMBS, JUDGE: This is a medical negligence case. Patricia Karsner appeals the

summary judgment of the Hardin Circuit Court entered in favor of Hardin

Memorial Hospital and Marcis Craig, M.D. Karsner filed the malpractice action

claiming damages arising out of complications associated with surgery performed

on her left arm. Because it was persuaded that the action had been filed out of

time, the circuit court granted summary judgment. After our review, we affirm. The following material facts are undisputed. On September 23, 2015,

Karsner sustained a fracture of her humerus during an altercation with local police.

She was taken by ambulance to Hardin Memorial Hospital where her arm was

immobilized by a splint. Several days later, Dr. Craig, an orthopedic surgeon

employed by Hardin Memorial Hospital, performed an open reduction internal

fixation to help repair the fractured bone. He utilized a surgical locking plate and

surgical screws. No complications were noted.

At Karsner’s first follow-up appointment on October 13, 2015, Dr.

Craig noted that the incisions were healing well. He ordered physical therapy.

During follow-up visits on November 5, 2015, and December 3, 2015, neither Dr.

Craig nor his nurse practitioner noted any complications. Images indicated the

humerus was “aligned and well-fixated” and that the “[h]ardware [was] intact.”

Karsner failed to show up for appointments scheduled for January 21,

2016, and March 10, 2016. During her next visit, on March 17, 2016, Karsner

complained of pain in her forearm. An x-ray now indicated “non-union” of the

humerus. Dr. Craig ordered a bone stimulator to help in healing.

Karsner saw Dr. Craig’s nurse practitioner for another visit on April

22, 2016. Karsner complained of pain in her upper left arm. A radiology report

dated April 29, 2016, indicated that the bone was “partially ununited.” Evidence

-2- of hardware loosening and of a broken screw was also observed. Karsner was

advised of the hardware failure.

On May 3, 2016, Karsner returned for another follow-up visit with Dr.

Craig. She reported that she was continuing to feel pain. Dr. Craig again

described the humerus as a “non-union.” Dr. Craig referred Karsner to Dr. Craig

Roberts, a trauma specialist at the University of Louisville. Dr. Craig’s office

scheduled an appointment for May 18, 2016, but Karsner did not appear for the

appointment with Dr. Roberts.

In a telephone call to Dr. Craig’s office on June 15, 2016, Karsner

complained that she was continuing to feel significant pain in her arm and that her

prescription for narcotic pain medication had been reduced. An office note

documented that Karsner was crying and reported that she was contemplating

suicide because of the pain.

Karsner saw her primary care physician on July 8, 2016. The

physician noted in his progress report that Karsner reported that she was treating

with Dr. Roberts because a surgical plate had loosened in her upper arm just

months after her surgery.

On July 27, 2016, Karsner went to the hospital emergency room. She

complained of pain in her left arm and a rash. Images indicated “displacement of

the butterfly fragment of bone which is now no longer fixed with the screws.”

-3- Two days later, on July 29, 2016, Karsner saw Dr. Craig for the last

time. Dr. Craig again noted humerus “non-union.” He suggested to Karsner that

he set up another appointment for her to see Dr. Roberts in Louisville. Karsner

indicated to Dr. Craig that she might or might not be able to attend. However, she

did see Dr. Roberts, and on September 16, 2016, he performed surgery to remove

the failed surgical hardware.

On August 16, 2017, Karsner filed a proposed complaint with a

medical review panel. (The medical review panel procedure was subsequently

declared unconstitutional.) On November 8, 2017, Karsner filed a medical

malpractice action against Dr. Craig and the hospital in Hardin Circuit Court.

Karsner alleged that Dr. Craig’s treatment had fallen below the standard of care

and that the hospital was vicariously liable for his negligence.

Dr. Craig and the hospital answered and denied the allegations. They

also asserted the one-year statute of limitations as a defense.

Karsner was deposed on October 10, 2018. With respect to Dr.

Craig’s treatment, Karsner testified that as early as March 10, 2016, she had

developed “an underlying concern” regarding her care. She believed that:

the surgery hadn’t been done properly. That Dr. Craig shouldn’t have done it; he should have sent me to a trauma surgeon that day. And that the infection and my – my complaints of there being more pain, not less pain, and the complaints of infection were going – going unnoticed, untreated, and ignored.

-4- Karsner thought Dr. Craig should not have performed the surgery and “just felt an

underlying sense that . . . he was in over his head.” She was convinced that Dr.

Craig was not adequately qualified to perform her surgery and was out of his depth

“when he started talking about trauma surgeons, and I started looking into what

trauma surgeons do, and . . . what should have been done.”

Relying on Karsner’s deposition testimony, the hospital filed a motion

for summary judgment on February 4, 2019. It argued that Karsner had knowledge

of her alleged injury no later than July 2016 and, consequently, that she had failed

to assert a timely claim. In a supplemental memorandum, the hospital raised issues

concerning its governmental immunity.

On March 19, 2019, Dr. Craig filed a similar motion for summary

judgment. Relying on Karsner’s deposition testimony, Dr. Craig argued that the

action against him had not been timely filed.

In separate responses, Karsner argued that by the time of her

deposition, she “had participated in far too many conversations with legal counsel

and medical experts and other physicians to accurately testify as to what she knew

or thought she knew” during the period that she was being treated by Dr. Craig.

She also contended that the “continuing course of treatment doctrine” tolled the

statute of limitations until after Dr. Roberts performed the corrective surgery. She

argued that her treatment with Dr. Roberts constituted a continuing course of Dr.

-5- Craig’s treatment because Dr. Craig had referred her to Dr. Roberts. For these

reasons, she argued that summary judgment was not warranted.

The circuit court conducted a hearing on the motions on April 2, 2019.

At the end of the hearing, the court instructed the parties to present any caselaw

that they could find pertaining to an extension of the continuing course of

treatment doctrine as proposed by Karsner.

Several days later, the circuit court rendered summary judgment. The

court concluded that Karsner had discovered or should have discovered her injury

well before her last visit with Dr. Craig in July of 2016. The court was not

persuaded that the continuing course of treatment doctrine could be extended to

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Harrison v. Valentini
184 S.W.3d 521 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2006)
Hackworth v. Hart
474 S.W.2d 377 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1971)
Wiseman v. Alliant Hospitals, Inc.
37 S.W.3d 709 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2000)
Excel Energy, Inc. v. Commonwealth Institutional Securities, Inc.
37 S.W.3d 713 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2001)
Elwell v. Stone
799 S.W.2d 46 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1990)
Norwest Bank Minnesota, N.A. v. Hurley
103 S.W.3d 21 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2003)
Bruner v. Sullivan Univ. Sys., Inc.
544 S.W.3d 669 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2018)
Curty v. Norton Healthcare, Inc.
561 S.W.3d 374 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Patricia Karsner v. Marcis A. Craig, M.D., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patricia-karsner-v-marcis-a-craig-md-kyctapp-2021.